To measure electronic noise levels we photographed the standard Gretag Macbeth ColorChecker at each of the camera's ISO settings. The crops are taken from the originals and presented here at 100%. To compare typical noise in skies and dark shadows the crops were taken from patches 3 and 24 respectively.

Up to 400 ISO, the E-500's noise levels are similar to rival digital SLRs, although at higher sensitivities, the E-500 begins to fall behind. Canon remains the leader in low noise.